Tea Board Chairman Siddharth will lead a delegation to Russia from Monday to Saturday (February 9-15) coinciding with ‘Prodexpo 2015’, the biggest trade event in Moscow. The visit is being guided by Tea Board’s Moscow office.

Representatives of McLeod Russel India Ltd, Jayshree Tea Industries, Godfrey Phillips India Ltd, Golden Tips Tea Co Private Ltd, Balaji Agro, Vikrama Impex, Arrum Exporters, Limtex India, Primiers Tea, Indu Tea, JFK International, Bagmahi Group and North Western Cachar Tea Company are among those in the delegation.

The Board will hold a special pavilion of 84 sq m in Prodexpo.

The delegation will have meetings with major buyers including Orimi Trade May Company, Ahamed Tea, Nadin Tea, Rubin Tea, Riston , Mac Tea and retail chains like X5, Magnit and Seven continents.

Russia is the single largest importer of Indian tea and CIS countries, including Russia, account for as much as 25 per cent of India’s overall exports. While this itself has enough reasons to justify the delegation to Prodexpo, an equally significant factor is that the delegation is visiting in the backdrop of Russia’s import of Indian tea falling in the recent past.

Russia, which imported 49 million kg (mkg) from India in calendar 2011, imported only 46 mkg in 2012 and 40 mkg in 2013. The imports have fallen further in 2014 and as per the latest data available with Tea Board, till November, Russia purchased only 34 mkg from India against 36 mkg during January-November 2013.

The need to boost tea exports to Russia arises also from the reality that it has imported two mkg less in 2014 despite offering the teas for ₹10 or 28 US cents less per kg.

The average price of Indian tea exported to Russia till November was ₹155.61 a kg against ₹165.07 in the same period of 2013.

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